INDUKCIJA I KATEGORIZACIJA: JEDAN MODEL RAZVOJA JEZIKA
INDUCTION AND CATEGORIZATION: ONE MODEL OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Summary/Abstract: According to one of the models of explanation of the development of verbal and linguistic competence, inductive reasoning provides a more adequate description of this development compared to various theories of innateness. The basic function of induction consists in concept formation and acquisition, i.e. in categorizing the world of our surroundings. Research has shown that pre-school children become aware of various ways in which categories are interrelated, and they are also using different principles for grounding their inductive reasoning. The main form of inductive reasoning from the standpoint of language learning is called category based induction. Category based inductive reasoning is the subject of many analyses which aim to pinpoint its origin and explain its further development. Some authors have maintained that the bias towards this type of reasoning is conceptually primitive, i.e. that it is not the result of language learning. In effect, it is the precondition of language learning as it enables the categorical mastery. Others have presupposed that children are biased when considering words as something that refers to kinds. When categorical information is passed through words the children are spontaneously making categorically grounded conclusions. The question of the origin of category based induction is still largely open. Is it an innate ability or the product of development? If it is the product of development, are there some components on which such reasoning is based, that are innate in a certain way? What is the exact relationship between categorization and induction? Is categorization prior to induction or is it the product of it? This is just to name a few of philosophically interesting questions with which the proponents of this model are faced. The model itself sheds new light on some classic problems of the philosophy of language in general, and on some key aspects of Quine’s position in this discipline, in particular.

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